How to Play Escoba
Description
Play a card, make fifteen, take everything it touches. Clear the whole table in one go and that is an escoba — the sweep the game is named for.
Objective
Capture cards from the table by making fifteen, and sweep the table clean whenever you can.
Setup
A Spanish 40-card deck. Deal three cards to each player and four face up to the table.
Court cards count 8, 9 and 10; number cards count their face value.
Rules
On your turn, play one card from your hand. If it combines with one or more table cards to total exactly fifteen, you capture all of them along with your own card.
If nothing on the table adds to fifteen with your card, your card stays on the table.
Clearing every card off the table in a single capture is an escoba — worth a point on its own, and traditionally marked by placing the capturing card face up in your pile.
Winning
When the deck is exhausted, score one point each for: most cards, most sevens, holding the seven of coins, and most coins overall. Each escoba scores a point too.
Play continues to an agreed target, usually 21 points.